Departed but not Forgotten
by Gamebird
Summary: Tammy Wilcox, mother of Jackie, continues to mourn her daughter. After Claire leaps from the Ferris wheel, Tammy realizes that answers might be had as to the truth of her daughter's death.
1. Dearly Departed

**Title: ****Departed but not Forgotten**  
**Rating:** PG  
**Warnings: **Maternal grief  
**Word Count: **450  
**Summary:** Tammy Wilcox, mother of Jackie, continues to mourn her daughter.  
**Notes:** Written for heroes_contest drabble challenge #35, "Spirit". Beta by dancingdragon3.

It had been four years and Tammy still missed her little girl bitterly. Jackie was in heaven now, she hoped. God was fair and loving, but she knew that Jackie had strayed a great deal. She'd been rebellious, perhaps even mean-spirited. Tammy understood. She'd been the same way as a teen. It had taken getting knocked up, abandoned, and disowned before Tammy had finally seen the light, throwing herself on the Lord's mercy. She'd found a new way to live, eventually meeting the wonderful man she'd married, who'd raised Jackie as his own. Tammy had feared what Jackie would have to go through before finding peace in her own turbulent soul.

The forty year old woman shut her eyes, holding a clenched fist to her chest in wordless misery at the hole in her heart that could not be filled. At one time, she'd been sorry and angry about Jackie's future, but that had been when she _**had**_ a future. Now Jackie had nothing but a grave. After the funeral, Tammy found herself bursting into tears at the oddest moments – walking by Jackie's room, passing by honeycomb cereal at the grocery store with no one to buy it for, clocking out of work at 5 pm instead of 3. The hurt didn't stop, even if years had mostly dried the tears.

Only when pushed had Claire haltingly murmured about Jackie's last, surprisingly selfless act in this world. Jackie had told her friend to run, to save herself. Claire had said it jolted her out of her frozen panic, letting her escape. It proved to Tammy that the defiant girl had a good heart inside of her just as she'd suspected. That someone else had survived because of Jackie had brought her much comfort over the years. Though she'd always suspected there was more to things than a random murderer killing cheerleaders.  
Heart thundering in her ears, Tammy leaned closer to her computer screen, hitting replay on the strange film clip of Claire Bennet. The sound of Claire popping her arm back into socket made her nauseous. The healing cut filled her with amazement. Claire spoke brazenly of how she could never be killed. Tammy's eyes watered, breaths coming faster. Claire's reluctance to speak of Jackie's murder took on a sinister light. Why was her daughter left to die by someone who couldn't?

Betrayal and burning anger consumed her. Her baby had been taken from her and for years the truth denied her. No more. She looked at the blurb under the video. _New York, Central Park_. From Texas, Tammy could be there in a couple days if she drove all night. She would not rest until she had her answers.


	2. New Target

**Title: **New Target  
**Characters:** Claire Bennet, Tammy Wilcox (Jackie's mother)  
**Rating: **PG  
**Warnings: **None  
**Word count:** 500  
**Setting: **Post Brave New World  
**Summary: **Claire comes clean about the real reason Jackie died and Tammy finds a new target.  
**Notes:** Beta by dancingdragon3. Written for the heroes_contest prompt, "New".

* * *

"Jackie died because of me." The talk-show audience pulled in their breath as a collective gasp, including that of Tammy Wilcox, Jackie's mother. Having seen Claire on television after the Ferris wheel stunt, Jackie had traveled to New York to find her. Failing to locate her immediately, she'd offered the press an irresistible piece of backstory in exchange for bringing them together. It was Claire's first experience with having to answer for her past. But they were answers she wanted to give - the truth needed to be known.

"There was a man with the power to take abilities from people by killing them. He'd found out about mine because a little while before Homecoming, there was a terrible train wreck near Odessa. There was an explosion and a lot of fire. I helped get some firefighters out of the way and they noticed I wasn't hurt." Claire grimaced, looking down at her hands and clenching them together nervously.

Tammy was also on the stage with her, sitting under the too-bright lights with the heavily make-upped moderator looking for her reaction to Claire's confession. Tammy said in a low voice, "Jackie said it was her. I … I always thought the firefighters must have been exaggerating."

"No. They weren't. I left before they could find out who I was. And because I didn't tell the truth, that's why Jackie died. The guy who could take abilities came to Homecoming. He found Jackie in the locker room …" Claire felt the hot prickling of tears at the memory of her friend's murder. "I tried to stop him, but even if I could heal, I was just sixteen and he was-" She stopped to draw in a deep breath, trying to calm herself.

Tammy wiped at her own cheeks, finally learning the real reason why her daughter had been so senselessly killed.

"I went to get help," Claire continued, swallowing around the lump in her throat. "I found … Peter. I told him about …" She shook her head, not sure what she should reveal. Nathan had never acknowledged her, so her relation to the Petrelli family was still a secret. Even if it was one of many secrets Claire wanted to make known to the world, she knew she should tread carefully. There was no harm in saying Peter's name, because the police had taken him in for questioning after the fall from the Odessa stadium – that much was in the public records. "And he made Sylar leave."

"Sylar?" the moderator asked.

Claire nodded once, regretting and not regretting having said the name. In her concentration on protecting the Petrellis, it had just slipped out. "He was the one … who could take abilities."

"You knew who he was?" Tammy questioned sharply.

"I do now. I didn't then."

Tammy nodded, because that made all the difference. With angry determination in her voice, she said, "Then he's the reason Jackie died, not you. Where is he now?"


	3. Angels Among Us

**Title: **Angels Among Us  
**Characters:** Sylar, Tammy Wilcox, Peter Petrelli, Claire Bennet  
**Rating:** PG  
**Warnings:** Religious themes (treated respectfully)  
**Word count:** 2,250  
**Setting:** Less than a week after Brave New World, Post-series, part of Departed, But Not Forgotten (Dearly Departed and New Target).  
**Summary:** Tammy finally gets the spiritual peace she's been looking for since her daughter, Jackie, was killed four years ago.  
**Notes:** Written for heroes_contest prompt, "Demons". Beta read by means2bhuman.

* * *

"That's him?" Tammy asked Claire in a hushed whisper. Claire nodded.

Sylar sat Peter's dining room table, resisting the urge to pick at the wood and be as tiny and inoffensive as possible. It was one thing to deal with Peter, it seemed – they had a history and things were complicated. It was another to deal with Claire – she had survived Sylar's assault and he had tried to apologize. It was far more upsetting, oddly, to deal with this total stranger whom he'd wronged without even knowing she existed. So many people fell into that category. He might not be the person he used to be, but that didn't mean that person hadn't ruined the lives of many who might want to hold him accountable.

Tammy's first steps were tentative – no doubt looking him over, inspecting him and finding him wanting. He looked down, bowing his head, unable to continue facing her. He felt guilt chase through him, making his skin flush with warmth and then chill. His fingers twitched on the table's edge – so much for resisting the urge. He heard the scrape of a chair; the sound grating across his nerves as she sat down, a jingle and thump of her purse being placed on the floor next to her. She settled in, sitting with him rather than standing and railing or otherwise refusing to join him at the table. He raised his eyes, lips thin, face pale.

Tammy was in her late 40s – white, dumpy, and short, with long, auburn hair in a simple, conservative style, held back by small clips. Her outfit was similarly unassuming – it matched - orange and yellow, unaccountably sunny given the somber purpose of her visit - but nothing fancy. She wore a small Star of David on a thin necklace and a plain wedding ring on her left hand. She looked weathered and kind of tough, like her life had not been easy, but that she'd held up under the load. Sylar swallowed and blinked, knowing he was the cause of some of that burden.

"They say you're the one who killed my da-" Tammy took a deep breath and cleared her throat at the catch. "My daughter, Jackie … Jacqueline. Is that true?"

He nodded. "Yes." With an effort, his eyes met hers. She deserved that much and more. He thought his own mother and how she would have felt to have lost her only son when he was a teen. He wondered if Tammy had any other children, but it seemed rude to ask. It wasn't his job here to ask the questions, but only to answer for his sins.

"Why?"

Such a simple question, and yet it almost broke him. Looking back on his life _hurt_. One of the blessings of what Matt had done to him was that it had given him years to come to terms with what he'd done, but it didn't mean he was okay with it. He drew in a deep breath, shutting his eyes briefly before meeting hers to answer, "I thought she had an ability that would make me unstoppable."

Tammy was silent for a long moment, before saying, "Like Claire?"

"Yes. I …" He shrugged. "Claire was the one I was really after."

"Claire said you had killed other people." Her eyes were sharp, intelligent, and piercing. He felt exposed. There were none of the standard excuses to trot out – no Petrelli or Company interference, no self-defense, not even an ability that Jackie didn't deserve and should have defended better from a predator like himself.

Sylar's eyes darted towards the entrance to the kitchen, wondering how much they had told her. Peter and Claire both were quietly sequestered there, out of sight but not out of hearing, by agreement of everyone involved. "Yes."

"Don't you know that's _wrong_?" Tammy said, voice rising a little in judgment.

Sylar bowed his head quietly, willing to take whatever he got. "Yes."

"Did you know it was wrong when you did it?" This time her voice held curiosity and confusion.

"I knew," he said, voice small and sad.

"Then _why?_" She pleaded with him, leaning forward and putting her hands on the table before her.

"They had something I wanted. I knew it was wrong." He lifted his face, eyes wet. "But I was able to take it from them and so I did."

"Can you … still?"

He regarded her, making sense of her question. "Yes, but I don't."

"Why is that?" She put her hands together, elbows out to either side as her eyes bored into him.

Sylar drew in a deep breath, eyes going to the entrance of the kitchen again, this time for a different reason. Her questions were more personal than even Peter's had been, striking unerringly to his heart. "It was … empty. I had all this power and it didn't mean anything. I didn't matter, except as someone feared, hated, to be used. I wanted … I wanted to be more than that." He sniffed, pulling in his arms close to his body and tilting his head in an unconscious vulnerability. "All I ever wanted was to be special. To be … somebody special."

Tammy looked at him for a very long time, not quite a stare, while Sylar tried to huddle into himself. He wished he could crawl off and stop existing, as he thought about all the other people out there who had reason to hold him accountable for his past. Finally she said, "Jackie was special to me." His eyes flicked up to hers and he nodded shallowly. She continued, "She would have been nineteen now. In college. Maybe married. I'll never go to her graduation – not from high school, not from college. I'll never go to her wedding." Tammy swallowed roughly, tears beginning to spill from her eyes. "I'll never give her advice about her husband. I'll never hold my grandchildren." She sniffled. "I'll never have any. I can't make cookies with her anymore. I don't have to argue with her about the laundry or leaving the cabinet doors open when she puts away the dishes. _I'll never have her again._ You see that?"

Sylar felt a tear trickle down his cheek. He nodded and ducked his head to hide his face. Peter's grief had been expressed much more physically. Honestly, Sylar thought that was easier to take.

Her voice quavered as she continued. "I can't introduce her to any of my friends. When people at work ask me if I have children, or they ask me about her because of her picture on my desk ..." She put her hands over her face, unable to go on. Sylar looked back and forth across the room, not seeing what he wanted. Peter's apartment was not exactly replete with amenities. He stood and walked out, quickly getting a roll of toilet paper from the bathroom, cursing himself for not having made sure there were tissues on hand – for either of them, although he hadn't expected his own reaction. He offered it to her. She looked at his stricken face, then took the roll. A few minutes later, after he'd taken his seat again, she asked, "How many others did you do this to?"

He looked away guiltily. "A lot." He didn't even know how many, which was revolting.

"Did you go to church as a boy?" He nodded. "Did your parents … was there some _reason_ …?"

Sylar shook his head, his voice rough for this answer. "It's not anyone's fault but my own. I was greedy. I didn't care. I didn't care enough not to do it."

She sniffed a few more times and asked plainly, "Have you asked Jesus Christ for forgiveness?"

He blinked at her, mind blank as the gears locked up at what for him was a jarring segue. Finally, knowing he had to say something, he blurted, "I haven't asked _anyone_ to forgive me. I- It's unforgivable." He hadn't even asked Peter for that. The best he had was an acknowledgement that he'd changed, which was the most he felt he deserved. He'd done so many horrible things.

"Nothing is unforgivable," Tammy said, a sudden flood of new tears cascading down her cheeks, causing her to unroll more toilet paper. "Jesus … He can take anything." She looked up at him with new fervor. "When it hurt me the most, knowing my baby was gone, I would pray. I would pray to Jesus and lay it all on him." She shook her head. "It's too big for one person to handle. You have to give it up to Jesus. You know it's wrong. You know He'll save you. Do you _want_ to be saved?"

"Uh ..." Sylar swallowed, throat dry. Two memories dominated his mind – locking himself in the closet and scrawling pleas to an indifferent deity, and telling Angela that he believed in blood, not God. He cast a glance at the entrance to the kitchen, then back to her. "No one's ever … saved me. Not … not for _me_. They always had," another guilty glance in Peter's direction. He didn't want to sound ungrateful, but … "reasons."

"Jesus Christ will save you," she said firmly.

He looked away, shaking his head in denial and dismissal. "I don't believe in Jesus."

"Son, _Jesus believes in __**you!**_" Tammy said stridently, snapping Sylar's attention back to her in an instant. Her expression was determined, her face full of life and hopes and dreams and motivations as much of those of any special. Sylar had too long dismissed those not anointed with abilities as beneath him. They weren't.

"S-son?" he stammered, shocked that she of all people would refer to him as family.

She stood up, pushing herself off the table. "_You are a son of the Lord!_ It doesn't matter what you've done, you are _**still**_ one of God's children!" She walked around the table towards him, voice strong and steady now. "All these years, I've been praying and begging Jesus to explain to me what kind of person could do a thing like you did. You are lost, Sylar! _Lost!_ Let me show you the way … please." She extended a hand towards him, open, palm up. "If you don't believe in Jesus then believe in me, because _**I**_ am here. You can _see_ me. You _know_ me. I testify I was sent here to find you, to save you, and to lead you back. Jesus sent me. He sent me through my love for my daughter, because you are too important to lose. You, Sylar, are _special_."

He stared at her in shock, his hand finding hers by instinct or divine design, he knew not which. She went to her knees immediately, his hand clasped between both of hers. He wasn't familiar with whatever evangelical tradition she followed, but he knew what was required of him. He pushed his chair back and joined her on the floor, his memory now reminding him of the baptism he'd been given into the family of specials in the carnival. Then another connection and another, tumbling on one another so fast he couldn't keep track of them all: Peter's name, his own of Gabriel, Angela's, numbers and dates of religious significance, Noah collecting up specials, was his exile in Matt's nightmare world some parallel of a biblical tale? He didn't know. He'd never studied the Bible with the attention Virginia (the Virgin!) had wanted him to. "I am not worthy," he whispered, trembling because he could feel her faith and certainty through her skin, the truth of her words striking deep. Was it possible that everything that had happened to him had some deep, hitherto denied, religious significance?

"But Jesus died for you! He died for all of us. There ain't _nothing_ my Jesus can't take on. You, Sylar – you have to finish your journey of becoming a good man. You know what you did was wrong. You know that your soul is starving for love. Feel my hands!" She gripped his with surprising strength. "Know that the love of Jesus can be yours forever. Open your heart to Him, Sylar. Let Him carry your sins. Let Him forgive you." Tears ran down her face anew and Sylar found himself joining her. She whispered, "Ask him to save you."

He hesitated, tears rolling down his cheeks, remembering how lonely and frightened and devastated he'd been in that closet, begging for forgiveness. He didn't understand God's silence then. And he didn't now. This wasn't about God, he realized, his hands gripping hers in return. God didn't have to be part of this. It had to do with people forgiving him – people, starting with Tammy. "Save me," he whispered back. "Forgive me," he added, voice shaking, for Tammy would not believe her god had the capacity to forgive him unless she, herself, possessed it. It was the marvel of humanity.

"He does! He does!" she cried out, rocking back and forth, finally hugging Sylar, pulling him close to sway back and forth on the floor next to Peter's dining room table. They cried on each other in relief and newfound peace.


End file.
